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Grafana vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

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Grafana
Read 39 Grafana reviews
13,150 views|9,190 comparisons
87% willing to recommend
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SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Read 38 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews
5,067 views|3,318 comparisons
87% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
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Buyer's Guide
Grafana vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
May 2024
Executive Summary
Updated on Jun 29, 2023

We performed a comparison between SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and Grafana based on real PeerSpot user reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: SolarWinds' setup duration can vary greatly, taking anywhere from a few hours up to two months. On the other hand, Grafana's setup duration is generally shorter, ranging from a few minutes up to a couple of weeks. While SolarWinds' deployment process is typically easy, upgrades may pose difficulties. The ease of setup for Grafana varies based on individual opinions.
  • Features: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor excels in process and service monitoring, infrastructure dependency mapping, and network device performance monitoring. On the other hand, Grafana is highly customizable and visually appealing, offers flexibility in integration with other tools, and has a helpful community for support.
  • Pricing: SolarWinds' pricing is yearly and can differ based on devices and modules, while Grafana offers both open-source and enterprise editions with pricing based on metrics ingested per day. However, planning is important for Grafana due to its heavy resource usage. Grafana's free version is suitable for visualization, but some features require the enterprise version. Additionally, a license is required for commercial use.
  • Service and Support: Some users find SolarWinds' support team to be responsive and knowledgeable, while others have had negative experiences with long wait times and lack of initial knowledge. Similarly, some users praise Grafana's support for being efficient and helpful, while others resort to the community forum for assistance.
  • ROI: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is effective in improving performance and productivity while reducing downtime. On the other hand, Grafana enhances data visualization and analytics.

Comparison Results: Grafana stands out due to its open-source nature, flexibility in integration, and visually appealing graphs. SolarWinds falls short in terms of stability, flexibility, ease of use, and pricing, although it offers valuable monitoring capabilities. Grafana's customer service and pricing are positively reviewed. Overall, Grafana is user-friendly and provides a positive return on investment, making it the preferred solution.

To learn more, read our detailed Grafana vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: May 2024).
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772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Tedi Manushi
Provides a comprehensive monitoring and alerting solution and low maintenance solution
The benefits depend on different use cases. For example, I have used Grafana with Alert Manager, which is a notification application to receive... Read more →
Anonymous User
We use this product for base and application monitoring.
I work in a space where we manage enterprise monitoring for server infrastructure. Hence, SAM is one the best modules that's capable of doing it.... Read more →
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most important feature of Grafana is its alarm formatting capability.""The most valuable thing was that it had a good visualization tool.""The most valuable aspect is customization. There are many customizations possible, so I like that.""The most valuable feature of the solution is the UI dashboard because we need to create a dashboard on Grafana to monitor our data.""We can write queries in different languages, which is beneficial for visualization.""The initial setup is straightforward with just a few clicks on the solution's cloud.""Grafana's best features are live monitoring and alerts.""Provides good dashboard visualization."

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"The solution has good alerts. Notifications are sent via email to technicians. You can filter the kinds of alerts you want to receive as well. It's excellent.""SolarWinds SAM has provided us with dynamic thresholds based on historical trends and requirements. The threshold gets configured automatically, so it's no longer necessary to configure it manually every time.""Monitoring the components on your devices with out of the box monitors or the ability to create new ones (SAM)""The most valuable feature is application monitoring.""SSL Certificate Monitoring and Expiry Alerting""One of the most valuable features are the reports. They're pretty good. Also, the ease of installation and customization for the client is another feature that we value. SolarWinds has a lot of features but these are the ones I like the most. We also like that the KPIs have the ability to be preset.""Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time.""The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pros →

Cons
"Grafana need to improve the logging functionality.""It would be helpful if they simplified the data source.""The product's configuration for saving files could be improved.""I had issues with the solution's configuration part.""It's difficult to see the trends on the graph when the range is too long.""Trigger limits are difficult to see in a graph.""Its UI features to create charts can also be improved. Some features could have a link to the documentation.""The solution has room for improvement with a better API to help automate the construction of the dashboards easier."

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"The stability, flexibility, and ease of use could be improved.""The major concern in the product revolves around application performance monitoring since end-to-end application monitoring is not possible with the tool.""Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed.""The product does not explain why a problem occurred.""Solarwinds should come up the same monitoring system for other certificate expiration alert apart from SSL.""Downside of the tools is the web console are hung or crash. It need to improve the performance.""One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance""The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "​Grafana is free and open source.​"
  • "I use the open source model so it is free."
  • "My company uses the open-source version of Grafana, so it's free."
  • "We use the open-source version of Grafana."
  • "We are using the open-source license."
  • "I give the price an eight out of ten."
  • "You need to purchase the solution's license for its commercial use."
  • "The solution is expensive."

    • More Grafana Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."
  • "When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."
  • "Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."
  • "I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."
  • "Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
  • "SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."
  • "Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."
  • "The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."

    • More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    What do you like most about Grafana?
    Top Answer:The product's initial setup phase was very easy.
    Read all 24 answers   →
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Grafana?
    Top Answer:For me, Grafana is a cheap tool because I don't have to spend much time learning the product since it is a simple solution. I don't know if there are different paid versions of the product.
    Read all 15 answers   →
    What needs improvement with Grafana?
    Top Answer:It was pretty complicated to integrate the product into our workflow. We relied on templates we found on the GitHub open-source repositories. It is pretty hard to integrate Grafana and set it up… more »
    Read all 25 answers   →
    What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
    Top Answer:Identifying the problem statement is easy.
    Read all 25 answers   →
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server...
    Top Answer:The price is too high. The tool is overpriced. We don't need all the features. The product must minimize the features and reduce the price. It all comes down to pricing. The customers find it pretty… more »
    Read all 20 answers   →
    What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
    Top Answer:The biggest pain point is root cause analysis. It is difficult to analyze, assess, and warn my IT department about what will happen in the next five hours. It is also difficult to use AIOps to reduce… more »
    Read all 24 answers   →
    Ranking
    6th
    out of 111 in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    Views
    13,150
    Comparisons
    9,190
    Reviews
    37
    Average Words per Review
    390
    Rating
    7.9
    17th
    out of 111 in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    Views
    5,067
    Comparisons
    3,318
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    406
    Rating
    7.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SolarWinds SAM
    Learn More
    Grafana Labs
    Video Not Available
    SolarWinds
    Overview

    Grafana is an open-source visualization and analytics platform that stands out in the field of monitoring solutions. Grafana is widely recognized for its powerful, easy-to-set-up dashboards and visualizations. Grafana supports integration with a wide array of data sources and tools, including Prometheus, InfluxDB, MySQL, Splunk, and Elasticsearch, enhancing its versatility. Grafana has open-source and cloud options; the open-source version is a good choice for organizations with the resources to manage their infrastructure and want more control over their deployment. The cloud service is a good choice if you want a fully managed solution that is easy to start with and scale.

    A key strength of Grafana lies in its ability to explore, visualize, query, and alert on the collected data through operational dashboards. These dashboards are highly customizable and visually appealing, making them a valuable asset for data analysis, performance tracking, trend spotting, and detecting irregularities.

    Grafana provides both an open-source solution with an active community and Grafana Cloud, a fully managed and composable observability offering that packages together metrics, logs, and traces with Grafana. The open-source version is licensed under the Affero General Public License version 3.0 (AGPLv3), being free and unlimited. Grafana Cloud and Grafana Enterprise are available for more advanced needs, catering to a wider range of organizational requirements. Grafana offers options for self-managed backend systems or fully managed services via Grafana Cloud. Grafana Cloud extends observability with a wide range of solutions for infrastructure monitoring, IRM, load testing, Kubernetes monitoring, continuous profiling, frontend observability, and more.

    The Grafana users we interviewed generally appreciate Grafana's ability to connect with various data sources, its straightforward usability, and its integration capabilities, especially in developer-oriented environments. The platform is noted for its practical alert configurations, ticketing backend integration, and as a powerful tool for developing dashboards. However, some users find a learning curve in the initial setup and mention the need for time investment to customize and leverage Grafana effectively. There are also calls for clearer documentation and simplification of notification alert templates.

    In summary, Grafana is a comprehensive solution for data visualization and monitoring, widely used across industries for its versatility, ease of use, and extensive integration options. It suits organizations seeking a customizable and scalable platform for visualizing time-series data from diverse sources. However, users should be prepared for some complexity in setup and customization and may need to invest time in learning and tailoring the system to their specific needs.

    SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft, Adobe, Optum, Sky, Nvidia, Roblox, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Informatica, Maersk, Daimler Truck, SNCF, Atlassian, DHL, SAP, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco, Citi and many others.
    Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer20%
    Computer Software Company20%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Construction Company13%
    Recruiting/Hr Firm7%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization41%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise46%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise69%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise48%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    Grafana vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
    May 2024
    Free Report: Grafana vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
    Find out what your peers are saying about Grafana vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
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    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Grafana is ranked 6th in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 39 reviews while SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is ranked 17th in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 38 reviews. Grafana is rated 8.0, while SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Grafana writes "Agent-free with great dashboards and an active community". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor writes "We use this product for base and application monitoring. ". Grafana is most compared with New Relic, Sentry, Azure Monitor, Elastic Observability and Dynatrace, whereas SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is most compared with Azure Monitor, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Prometheus and SCOM. See our Grafana vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report.

    See our list of best Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability vendors.

    We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.